Disturbed over reports that China has installed a jamming system within Mischief and Fiery Cross Reefs on Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea, the Defense department said it would verify the report which if true, could disrupt the navigational communications and weapons systems of vessels passing through the South China Sea straits.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said although it has yet to monitor the supposed sophisticated jamming device that China put up in one of the disputed territories in West Philippine Sea, they will use all available resources to verify such information.
Lorenzana added that so far, the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force have yet to encounter any incidence of jamming during its regular patrols at the WPS.
The reported presence of China’s jamming devices in the disputed territories was exposed by the United States military, which regularly patrols the South China Sea.
“None has been confirmed by us. All reports has been coming from the US and we have not received any formal communications to that effect,” he said.
Prior to the US disclosure, China has converted all reclaimed areas in the WPS as what looked like a military garrison, equipped with modern electronic combat systems and runways fitted for huge cargo aircrafts.
The Philippine government had lodged numerous diplomatic protests over China’s aggressive posturing in the WPS after it invaded disputed territories in the Spratley’s, driving away Filipino fishermen and even threatening to dislodge Filipino troopers manning a navy ground vessel in Ayungin Shoal.
“I suspect the US Navy ships received the jamming signals. What’s the purpose of China’s jammers? Because they know US Navy ships are armed,” he added.
“It could be turned on or off depending on the mission. Even if you have a sensor you will not know if it’s not turned on,” he said.
Lorenzana added that despite the latest findings by the US, the Philippines cannot prevent China from putting up jammers in their reclaimed islands.
“Could we prevent China from installing jamming in their reclaimed islands? We didn’t even prevented them [China] when it started reclaiming,” Lorenzana said.
“None has been confirmed by us. All reports has been coming from the US and we have not received any formal communications to that effect. So far, our regular patrols in the WPS [West Philippine Sea] have not reported any incidence of jamming,” he said on Thursday.
“We will confirm using our resources if there really are jammers and if so what kind: to disrupt communications or disrupt weapon systems,” the DND chief said.
Meanwhile, a political analyst and maritime law expert believes the Philippines and China remains in a “stalemate” over the South China Sea issue despite an agreement for a joint exploration framework in the disputed waters.
Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said that what Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said recently was a reiteration of previous pronouncements.
Batongbacal was referring to the announcement made by Cayetano announcing that President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jin Ping briefly discussed a possible joint exploration between their countries in the South China Sea.
“If our legal minds… can come up with a framework tomorrow, I will send that to the Chinese tomorrow,” said Cayetano following Duterte and Xi’s meeting at the sidelines of the Boao Forum in the Chinese province of Hainan.
“I think that basically both parties are still at a stalemate in a way because they both indicated their positions, their very strong positions, respectively, Chinese side, Philippine side. Unfortunately for them there seems to be no area of compromise yet. That’s why they still have to keep talking,” Batongbacal said.
Bongbacal added that it would be best for the Philippines to resume oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea without China since there is a need for the country to find other sources of energy to prevent an energy shortage.
“We have three other service contracts and these service contract areas include places which are not even claimed by China, they’re outside the nine-dash line. At minimum, we should resume exploration in those areas because we have to find an alternative we have to find the next source for Malampaya,” he explained.